


Darkest Night

by MrsNazarioWrites



Series: The Edge of the World [8]
Category: Choices (Visual Novel), Choices - Fandom, Choices - Stories you play, Perfect Match (Visual Novel), Pixelberry - Fandom, Play Choices, PlayChoices
Genre: Action, Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Drama, Don't copy to another site, Drama, Drama & Romance, F/M, Heavy Angst, Kidnapping, Non-Graphic Violence, Romance, Suspense, Thriller
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-09-24 08:01:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20355094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrsNazarioWrites/pseuds/MrsNazarioWrites
Summary: Damien, Maya and Alana come face-to-face with their captors. What are their plans for them?





	Darkest Night

**Author's Note:**

> Perma-note: Dames’ name is Dexter in this series. I’d already named him before Book 2 came out so I’m keeping it that way here
> 
> A/N: School really kicked my ass last semester and will continue to do so, but my muse spoke this week and I finally got this done!

The sudden brightness assaulted Damien’s senses as he struggled to see beyond the tall security lights directed at the space they were on. He could make out cargo containers lining the dock, their silhouettes growing fainter with distance until they faded into the darkness. The only sound besides the movement of the guards around them was that of the ocean’s deceptively calm waves.

Damien stole a glance sideways to find Maya watching him apprehensively. She gave him a small smile, but her eyes said something else – something he was all too familiar with, having gotten into these types of situations before. This wasn’t the first time he’d been captured, and as of today, neither was it for her. Whatever they’d experienced in the Arctic HQ was likely child’s play compared to what they were going to face now.

Next to her, Alana was wiping her mouth against the shoulder of her dress, removing the trickle of blood from when Cecile struck her. The weight of the guilt gnawing at him grew heavier with the bleak reality of their situation. There was no denying that her actions in Moscow was the reason they’d been captured to begin with. But that didn’t mean she deserved this.

None of them did.

With or without her help, he’d known that the going wasn’t going to be easy since their escape. But that they’d catch up to them this fast?

_I should’ve known . . . should’ve been more careful._

“We really need to stop meeting like this.” Cecile was chuckling as she shut off her camera.

“Don’t think for one second that holding us hostage is gonna work,” Maya said angrily.

“Of course it’ll work, Maya.” She replied, absentmindedly putting away her equipment. “Seeing the state you three are in, surely they know that we have the upper hand.”

“You really think Nadia is gonna _trade_ her boyfriend to the likes of you?”

Cecile merely shrugged. “Oh please, she can find another one.” Then she leaned back against the wall of the cargo container next to her, crossing her arms. “I think the real question here is . . . can she find another cousin?”

“What?!” Damien bristled at the callousness of that remark, the implication not lost on him. “How can you say that?!”

“There’s no need to get personal, Damien. As I said, we’re just doing whatever it takes to get our property back.”

“I don’t believe you,” He scoffed. No doubt she and Rowan had said the exact same thing to Alana when convincing her to make a deal with them. The CEO’s words still rang clearly in his head, like it was yesterday.

_“Plans change, my dear. Or did they not teach you that in whatever backwater police academy trained you?”_

. . . And judging from the way Alana straightened herself indignantly, she was thinking the exact same thing.

“Come on. You know this isn’t the first time one of you has made a trade like that to save someone.” She was eyeing Alana smugly.

“That doesn’t count,” Damien said heatedly. “_Manipulating_ someone into a deal you don’t plan on keeping-”

“Surely you of all people can understand what I’m getting at, Ms. Kusuma?” Damien was shaking his head at her while Maya rolled her eyes. Cecile still ignored them, her gaze pinned on the captive agent.

“Yeeeah . . . ” Alana cleared her throat awkwardly, clearly feeling the weight of everyone’s stares. “Right. I suppose I can see why you would appeal to me but you’re on your own this time.”

“That’s quite a shame, Ms. Kusuma” A man’s voice came from behind and they turned around to look at the man walking towards them, his figure casting a long shadow that loomed over them as he passed the light post. “Given our past dealings, I was willing to consider a less harsh sentence for you.”

“Rowan.” Maya said his name through gritted teeth. Rowan glanced at her and his eyes flashed momentarily, before focusing on Alana again. He sauntered over to where Cecile was standing and straightened his jacket in a supposed show of professionalism.

“Bold of you to think I’m making any more deals with you after what you did the last time.” Alana snarled at him.

“I believe it goes without saying that the only one here with the authority to lay terms is _me_.” He replied, sneering. “It’s too bad you decided to pick the wrong side. Had you left well enough alone, you would’ve been better off.”

“Oh please,” She retorted. “I did what I had to do to escape after you _imprisoned_ me. What the hell do I have to do with any of this now?”

He raised a hand to gesture up and down at her. “One of the best and brightest agents Interpol has to offer. A self proclaimed _savant_ at international spying.” He proclaimed derisively. “You don’t really think we would just let you run scot free with all that you know about us? And all that you have done?”

“But it’s me you want!” Maya protested, barely noticing how he tensed when she addressed him. “You can’t hold her accountable for-” Alana shot her a hard look, silencing her, but the words already had their effect. Rowan slowly turned to her with purpose, his expression becoming more satisfied as he addressed her for the first time.

“Ah, Miss Park.” He greeted. “Just when I was wondering why you hadn’t started running your mouth yet. Imagine how disappointed I was when you left so soon. I was truly looking forward to our future interactions.”

“Yeah, because our last one went _so well_.”

“You have your own lack of decorum to blame for that,” Rowan countered. “And that of your . . . companions.” He tilted his head towards Damien as he said that. “Naturally, I thought it to be a more fitting way to deal with you, given that trying to reason with you upfront obviously didn’t work.”

“Why are we here, Rowan?” Maya demanded. “What more do you want from us?!”

He stepped forward. “Compensation.” At Maya’s bewildered look, he elaborated. “I figured at first that with those files back in our possession, you’d be too hard-pressed for evidence to bother us. But then . . .” as he continued, he began to pace. “I couldn’t help reflecting on your data, and that of the rest of your associates.” When he turned to look at her, the coldness in his eyes had morphed into an unsettling curiosity. “Do you remember what we talked about during our dinner, Miss Park?”

She met his gaze, swallowing hard as she thought back to their last conversation. “Every word of it,” she said quietly. “You want to use Sirens to complete your research.”

He wrinkled his nose. “A rather sophomoric interpretation, but I’ll take it. Our experiments with artificial intelligence, this matchmaking service to test the Matches’ integration into human society; baby steps towards perfecting our understanding of the human soul and its . . . efficacy.” He paused when he reached Dexter. “Take this one for example.” He placed a hand on the copy’s shoulder. “Remarkable, isn’t it? A mere imitation of Damien Nazario, the muscle of the group; yet he had you falling for him within minutes. Had it not been for that ridiculous glitch, there’s no telling what else he could’ve made you do.”

He continued to speak, ignoring Maya’s increasingly scandalized expression. “Now imagine the kind of progress I could make with _you_, the leader, the center of your group. The ability to bring people together, all in hope for a better future.”

Damien was looking between Rowan and Dexter, the disgust plainly obvious on his face. He was biting his lip to keep his preferred choice of words to himself. He also knew that Cecile was noticing the way his features kept tightening whenever Rowan or Harley ventured a little too close to Maya.

Alana was barely maintaining her aloof façade, the only indication of her growing anger at the situation being the way she kept her head up, but her sight fixated on the floor beneath them – a silent promise that there was only one place her newest enemies were ending up.

Maya, however, maintained eye contact with Rowan. All the harrowing events from today were coming together in her head, as were the implications. “There is no exchange, is there?” Her question was met with silence. She opened her mouth, then closed it, then again, tensing and clenching her fists to try and suppress her trembling. “If Damien hadn’t escaped, you were gonna use Dexter to lead my friends here, thinking they were saving us.” Her voice cracked when she spoke. “And then you ship us off somewhere else, just like you did last time.”

Rowan cleared his throat, as if noticing their dreary surroundings for the first time. “I apologize for the . . . quality of these accommodations, but given what happened to our last ones,” he shot her an icy glare. “We had to make do with what we had.”

“Yeah? You mess with us again, there’s more where that came from.” Maya challenged, paying no heed to the angry tears welling up. “This is _far_ from over! We’re gonna nail you _to the wall_ for this, you sadistic son of a-”

Rowan rounded on her and gripped her jaw in a bruising clutch, forcing her to face him when she tried to squirm away.

“Don’t touch her!” Damien shouted, lunging forward, only to be held back by Harley.

“You know we haven’t had a chance to discuss what you did to my eye when we last met.” Rowan whispered threateningly, his face inches away from hers.

“You’re right,” She choked out. “I- I made a mistake . . . in leaving your _other_ eye intact.”

Rowan’s eye twitched and he tightened his hold on her jaw for a brief second, only to relax it and step back. “Smart mouth me all you want, Miss Park.” His previous anger had now smoothed back into a cool disregard. “Appropriate accommodations are being arranged for you as we speak. After this is over, you and your little band of misfits will be housed in a secure location, where none of you can cause anymore trouble for me. Until then, I suggest you stay in line.” He then looked to Dexter and Harley and began barking orders to take them to their respective ‘cells’.

“Wait-!” Maya whipped her head around to face Damien, inhaling sharply as Harley pulled him to his feet and began dragging him towards a cargo container on the other side. “What are you doing?!”

“It’s gonna be okay, Maya,” Damien said.

“But-” Suddenly, she was on her feet as well as Dexter and another guard started pulling her and Alana in the other direction. “No, let go of me-” She twisted away from him and fixated on Damien, her free arm outstretched, reaching for him. “Damien!”

“Alana,” Damien called out to her. “Be careful. Both of you” Then his eyes darted in Maya’s direction and back to her, silently communicating something else to her. “Please.”

A look of understanding passed between them and Alana nodded firmly, her nails digging into her skin as she tightened her fists. “I will.”

————————————-

Once the captives were all locked away in their designated areas, Dexter returned to the previous spot where Cecile, Rowan and Harley were waiting. “Well this was a fresh waste of time,” Rowan was grumbling. He eyed Cecile, who was scrolling through something on her tablet. “Stop fiddling with that tablet and listen.”

Cecile let out a sigh and slipped it under her arm. “I apologize, sir. I was just going through the data collected from-”

“We started this mission in the afternoon. It is now the middle of the night,” he said sharply. “How does it take an entire day to apprehend two people? And now we have to deal with a third? We should’ve finished this with all of them by now!”

“Sir, we obviously didn’t anticipate Damien escaping the guards at the museum, not to mention the detour at the forest.”

“Of course, the Park girl was behind that.” Rowan spat. “It’s all because of her. I try to get this done quietly and she just shows up and ruins _everything_!” He slammed a fist against a nearby post.

“Sir-”

“No, that girl has been nothing but a nuisance from the start. She ruined our experiments, stole my property _three times_, cost me my most valuable facility and then _this-_!” He pointed to his eyepatch, seething. “She is going to _dearly_ regret crossing me. She deserves to be humiliated!”

He was so busy ranting that he didn’t notice Dexter flinching, heavily masked by the shadow of the light post next to him.

“She wasn’t the only one. Alana was in on it too.” Harley added. “She showed up at the last minute, and we didn’t think you’d want us to let her go. We did our best with whatever we had.”

“Perhaps, but did it also occur to you that we do not yet have a replacement for her? What do you think could happen when one of Interpol’s agents suddenly disappears?”

“She was between jobs last I checked. Now they may just assume that she’s lying low.” Cecile reassured him. “Despite these delays, everything is still going according to plan, sir. The others should be bringing the Matches soon and-”

Rowan’s brows furrowed at that and he held up a hand to stop her. “Dexter, according to your footage, you encountered the rest of the group when you were in the forest, did you not?”

He nodded. “I did.”

“Why are they not here as well?”

“Was wondering the same thing” Harley chimed in.

Dexter had to resist the urge to roll his eyes, instead choosing to mutter “Suck up.” under his breath. He quickly regained his composure, clasping his hands behind his back, as he focused on Rowan. “I was acting on Ms. Contreras’ orders. I didn’t think we were authorized to-” He was cut off when Rowan reached him in three quick strides.

“You had our property within arms reach and you let them slip away?” He demanded in a deadly calm voice.

Dexter stood straighter than before, maintaining a level stare. “We left them behind, Mr. We- Father.” He caught himself, trying to ignore how Rowan raised his eyebrow at that stutter. “I didn’t want to risk losing the hostages. And I also felt that the last thing we needed was for Alana to escape and use her resources to further arm their friends.”

“Sir,” Cecile cut in again, placing a hand on Rowan’s shoulder. “I believe I am the one who can answer for this. I have negotiated an exchange with them. Damien, Maya and as of now, Alana, in exchange for Steve and Hayden. Same as before. Rather than fight them head-on and potentially lose them in the forest, I forced their hand.”

“Of course you did.” Rowan’s lip was twitching as he continued to watch Dexter, then he turned around, chuckling condescendingly. “Oh Cecile, if you’re going to advance any further in this field you need to think beyond this . . .” he gestured ambiguously, carefully choosing his words. “. . . violent mindset. So short-sighted.”

Cecile’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “I see,” she muttered. “What do you feel I should have done differently then?”

“You should have brought them in all at once and gotten it done with. This way, we can focus on the real issues at hand,” Rowan admonished. “You’ve spent the whole day hosting mind games, cat-and-mouse chases; and in the meantime, we still have nothing on Khaan! How are we to advance the Matches if we spend so much time chasing rats?”

“We don’t have anything yet.” Cecile said plainly. “But I believe I may know someone who might.” At Rowan’s curious look, she continued. “I was combing through some of the files we were able to recover. Along the way, I noticed that some emails exchanged about his last known alias were missing. They were deleted the night before the explosion. And if you recall when we were studying the footage from the warehouse at the headquarters . . .”

“He was using one of our company-issued laptops.” Rowan finished for her. Comprehension dawned on his face as he put it all together. “He may be trying to find him through the alias and could’ve deleted those emails to throw us off.” He spent a few moments in thought, then nodded to Cecile. “Interrogate him. Find out what he knows.”

“Not a problem, sir.” Dexter didn’t know whether to be amazed or unsettled when he noticed the way her honey-colored eyes lit up as she thought through what to do next. “In fact, I think I know the perfect way to persuade him _and_ collect our data.” She smiled at Dexter and Harley. “And _you_ will accomplish this.”

Dexter blinked in surprise. “We will?”

“Is there any reason why you wouldn’t?”

“That’s not what I meant, I . . . was just confused with our orders. I thought we weren’t supposed to hurt her.”

“Naturally. Because we need her alive for all this.” Rowan said. “She’s one of our most successful clients in the matchmaking program and the data we collect on her will be invaluable to the Siren Project.”

Then he stepped forward, clapping his hands on Dexter’s shoulders. “That said, _how_ you collect her data matters little to me. And besides, I have no doubt that Mr. Nazario will open up rather quickly at the mere thought of his little sweetheart being hurt.” He raised an eyebrow expectantly. “Don’t you agree?”

Dexter did not miss the implication in Rowan’s tone. He watched impassively as the man’s icy blue eyes bored into his, as if sifting around for any signs of deception or worse . . . weakness. Slowly, he nodded. “Yes, Father.”

Rowan’s face softened and he stepped back, seemingly satisfied. “Good.”

“Don’t worry, Father. I can do it.” Harley said. “But . . . is Dexter going too?” He subtly tilted his chin at him, his eyes fixated on something. When Dexter followed that direction, he found that he was looking at his own hand.

It was shaking.

Taking a deep breath, he kept it behind his back as before, closing his other hand over it more tightly to hide it.

“_Especially_ him,” Cecile replied.

“Then I will leave you to it.” And with that, Rowan turned to go.

“Oh and Cecile? Try not to make a mess of things again. Do what you will with them, but leave them in one piece. I don’t like getting my hands dirty.”

Cecile managed a tight smile as she complied. Once he was gone, she opened her tablet and resumed her search.

“What exactly is the point of all this?”

“Hmm?” Cecile looked up from her tablet.

Dexter stiffened at her cold stare, but remained composed as he rephrased his question. “We could’ve brought either Damien or Maya here to negotiate the ‘exchange’.”

She lowered her tablet to her waist as she walked forward, smirking as she studied him with interest. “Yes. You’re right. But we got both of them instead.” Cecile reached out and trailed a finger along Dexter’s jaw, slightly tilting his chin in her direction. “Thanks to you.”

“Right.” Dexter cleared his throat softly and took a slight step back, putting some distance between himself and Cecile. “So why both of them?” He asked, as he crossed his arms.

There was an eerie gleam in Cecile’s eyes as she merely smiled and stepped away from the match. She turned around to head towards her makeshift office.

“Love is a dangerous thing. And so are we.”


End file.
